Just as was chatting happily together, a female classmate who was erasing the blackboard on the podium slipped her hand. The eraser flew out, landed on the foot of a female classmate who was lying on the desk with her feet stretched out, then bounced off, everyone flew behind the blackboard, rebounded, and by an extremely coincidence, flew straight toward Izumi Yuu's face.
"Watch out!!" Shikimori cried out in alarm and punched the eraser away. The eraser spun several times in the air and landed perfectly on Saiki's head.
Newton: I already said Japan isn't under my jurisdiction.
Saiki: ^{ↀ▃ↀ}^
"Ah, what happened?"
"It looks like the eraser was flying toward Izumi, got blocked, and then flew toward Saiki."
"Sigh, Saiki really has the worst luck."
The classmates were all discussing and chattering about it.
Izumi Yuu: "Saiki-kun, you're really not mad at all!"
[Is this really the time to be talking about that?]
Shikimori rushed over in a panic to check on him. "Sorry, Saiki, are you okay?"
Saiki expressionlessly took the eraser off his head.
(This all happened way too suddenly. This kind of "not a coincidence" coincidence is honestly unbelievable.)
Izumi Yuu stepped forward and helped brush some of the chalk dust off Saiki's head. "Sorry, Saiki-kun. You always end up taking the hit because of me."
[It's fine.]
Some of the girls in the class who saw this scene had sparkles in their eyes, as if they had discovered something very interesting. [Ah(〃∇〃), this is so shippable!]
(Stop that, don't ship random things.)
When Shikimori saw the two of them standing so close together, her molars were practically grinding to pieces. She pushed Saiki toward the bathroom. "Sorry, Saiki, hurry to the bathroom and clean off the chalk dust."
"I'll go with you too, Saiki." Shiraishi followed along.
[I get it, I get it, stop pushing me, hey!]
"Ah…" Izumi Yuu watched the three of them gradually walk away. He had wanted to keep apologizing, since he felt it was because of him that Saiki got hit.
"Izumi Yuu, you're seriously impressive." The classic trio walked over and stood in front of Izumi Yuu.
"That misfortune constitution is really something. Even Saiki got dragged down by it."
"But where did that eraser even come flying from anyway?"
By this time, the cleaned-up Saiki was already standing at the door and had overheard the conversation in the classroom.
The three of them were still chatting away without a care in the world. "Being friends with Izumi Yuu must be so tough. By the way, Shikimori-san seems pretty close with Izumi too, though that's probably because of Saiki. Just don't drag those two down with you too, haha."
Izumi Yuu didn't argue back. He just silently took it, feeling that what they said was true.
"What's wrong, Saiki?" Shikimori and Shiraishi asked from behind him. Although Saiki's face was expressionless right now, they could somehow sense that his mood wasn't great.
[Ha～] Saiki let out a sigh and walked back into the classroom.
The laughter from the three inside instantly stopped.
[I'm back, Izumi.] Saiki walked back in as if nothing had happened.
Izumi Yuu stepped forward with concern. "You okay, Saiki?"
[I'm fine. It's just an eraser. What could possibly happen? If you're going to keep apologizing like that, then treat me to a drink right now instead.]
(As someone with superpowers, getting hit by an eraser without dodging is kind of embarrassing. Also, this is the first time I've ever been hit by an eraser… this feeling… hmm.)
Izumi Yuu: "Of course, no problem. Let's go."
With that, they actually left the classroom again. Saiki walked at the very back.
The three who had just been laughing nearby: "He probably didn't hear us earlier, right?"
"Shouldn't have heard anything."
Saiki walked to the door. Before leaving, he turned back and gave the three of them a single glance, then left.
The moment Saiki was gone, the three who had just been comforting themselves that he hadn't heard anything suddenly felt that his calm gaze was somehow terrifying. They instinctively took two steps back.
"Wh-what was that?"
"So scary."
Meanwhile, in the classroom, a certain purple-haired and blonde-haired pair who had silently watched the entire scene muttered under their breath, "Saiki…"
...
After school, just as Saiki and Shiraishi were about to leave, our pink-haired Shikimori classmate suddenly appeared and invited them, "Wait, Saiki, Shiraishi, want to go hang out?"
Saiki looked at the excited Shikimori in front of him and was thinking about how to politely refuse.
"Izumi's coming too."
Saiki looked over at Izumi Yuu, who was waving at him, thought for a moment, then turned to Shiraishi. [Let's go together, Shiraishi.]
Shiraishi: "Eh, is that okay?"
When Shikimori saw that Saiki really seemed to be going, she excitedly said to Shiraishi, "Of course, of course! You're very welcome."
[Lucky! I knew it. If I invited them, Saiki would definitely come.]
Then she turned back to the people behind her. "Saiki and the others are coming too."
Izumi Yuu stepped forward. "Great! Saiki, let me introduce you. This is Inuzuka Shu, from the soccer club like me."
A boy with brown hair who gave off a feline vibe standing nearby replied, "Hello."
Shikimori also reached out to introduce the two beside her. "These two next to me are Hachimitsu Yui and Nekozaki Kyo."
The girl standing to the side who gave off a canine vibe smiled and said, "Hello, everyone. Looks like we can really have fun today."
The other one was a blonde girl who, even while smiling, looked completely devoid of energy, her eyes emotionless. "Hello～ you guys."
(They look like pretty interesting people.)
...
Thirty minutes later, the familiar bowling alley. Saiki and the others were inside selecting balls.
Nekozaki Kyo: "Alright! The loser has to treat the person with the highest score to a drink."
Inuzuka Shu clenched his fist. "Fine, challenge accepted."
The two stared at each other, full of fighting spirit.
Hachimitsu Yui stood in the corner silently watching them. "Please don't include me in that."
(Seems like you guys get along well.)
Shiraishi: "Bowling, huh…"
Izumi Yuu looked at Shiraishi and asked, "Shiraishi-kun, have you never played before?"
Shiraishi: "Mm, this is my first time."
Izumi Yuu: "No worries. I've only played two or three times myself. If you don't know how, I can teach you."
Shikimori sat to the side looking at Saiki. [Bowling? I've only played two or three times too.]
Then she tied her hair up. [But I'm really looking forward to it, Saiki.]
Izumi Yuu: "Then let's go pick out some bowling balls, Saiki."
[Oh, okay.]
Nekozaki Kyo and Hachimitsu Yui walked over to Shikimori. "Miyako, this is a great chance. Pretend you don't know how to bowl."
"Eh～ why?" Shikimori looked very confused.
"Because in a guy's eyes, 'not knowing how' equals
(That's all just a lie.)
Saiki walked to the side, picked up a 16-pound bowling ball, and tested the feel. (It's a little light, but this one is easier to control the power with.)
Izumi Yuu saw how familiar Saiki looked with it. "Saiki-kun, have you played bowling before?"
[Yeah, I used to really like playing bowling.]
This was the truth. In the past, to train his control over strength, Saiki would often go use 16-pound bowling balls like baseballs, throwing and catching them by himself to practice power control.
Inuzuka Shu: "Alright then. I'll go first."
Then Inuzuka Shu stepped forward with his approach and threw. He knocked down 7 pins. "Damn it, getting a strike on the first throw really isn't realistic."
Then he threw the second ball.
STRIKE